REVITALISED Albion winger Giles Barnes is basking in sunshine at The Hawthorns – but only after the adverse winter weather put a dampener on his Blues trial.

The 21-year-old is enjoying a new dawn with Roberto Di Matteo’s Baggies and he’s now itching to return to the league that he first graced with Derby in 2007.

It has been some turnaround for Barnes who, just four months ago, had no idea which direction his career was heading following his December release from the Rams.

However, a twist of fate and a slight upturn in temperature, could have seen Barnes plying his trade with Alex McLeish’s Premier League surprise package.

The ex-England Under-19 international couldn’t have asked for a more ideal scenario when Blues offered him a trial before Christmas.

It wasn’t far from his Nottingham home, Blues Academy supremo and ex-Derby coach Terry Westley was a familiar face while his younger brother Marcus was already on the club’s books.

The exciting talent showed up well in training but when it came to showing McLeish what he had to offer in a match, the wintery weather that virtually brought the nation to a halt also hampered his hopes of securing a deal with Blues and he moved on.

“I had a little trial with them. The idea was to go there, get fit and if they liked what they saw then I was going to sign,” recalled Barnes, who heads to Crystal Palace with Albion for tomorrow evening’s televised Championship clash.

“I had about three or four games called off just because of the weather. To be fair to Alex McLeish he said, ‘we do want you to stay here and play but we just need you to play in a game. You’ve showed us everything you’ve got in training but we need to see it in a game now.’

“I thought I’d been there for three weeks already and I needed to settle down somewhere. I couldn’t take the chance of a game being called off again because it was when the weather was snowy. I just left it.

“I didn’t really speak to Terry Westley about that, I just got the call from my agent saying that Birmingham wanted to take me in. Maybe Terry had a word with Alex.

“That was my first trial. It was a massive help just to get back around the football environment. I worked with their fitness coach as well, which obviously helped me to get fit so I thank them a lot for that.”

Barnes has been back to Blues’ Wast Hills training ground since but, having penned an 18-month deal with a one-year option with Albion in February, the return visit had nothing to do with his own prospects as he checks up on 13-year-old Barnes junior.

It’s a chance for academy director Westley to help another familyprodigy blossom.

Having guided him through the Derby youth ranks, Westley made a then 17-year-old Barnes an integral part of his Rams first-team during his brief stint as boss at Pride Park in 2006 following the sacking of Phil Brown.

“Terry has been massive for my career and I owe a lot to him,” Barnes added. “He took me when I was young and he gave me my chance. He believed in me so I’ve got a lot to thank him for.”

And on the subject of the sibling attempting to follow his lead to the top, he added: “Marcus plays left wing or in the hole. He’s 13 at the moment. He’s played for Birmingham’s under-16s, and he’s trained with their under-18s so he’s meant to be quite good. Birmingham really like him

“He was just playing at school and getting a lot of interest from Nottingham Forest, Notts County and teams like that. Then when he was about ten or 11 he played for Derby for one day and Terry said: ‘he’s got something’.

“He stopped playing for a little while because he wasn’t really bothered with football at the time but when he got a little bit older he started to get obsessed and then Terry said, ‘Listen, I’m at Birmingham, come down, let’s see what you can do’.